Just For Now
by caramelcat
Summary: Anna lifted an eyebrow and leaned an elbow on the edge of the bathtub, "Actually, a lot more than my head is pounding when I see you." {Re-post of a drabbly-fic on my tumblr}. Modern AU. Elsa/Anna.


**A/N: **This is just a re-post of a pointless drabbly-sort-of-thing I posted on tumblr like a week ago. Mostly putting it on here for the sake of keeping everything in one place. I can't stop writing fic of these two they're are actually killing me oh my god.

_Just For Now_

Anna wasn't a partier - Elsa knew. That was too consistent of a title for her sporadic wiles. Anna liked to have fun, and _sometimes_ that fun translated to the ingestion of enough alcohol to sedate a horse. It wasn't often that Anna got drunk for the fun of it - typically a special occasion prompted her intoxicated escapades (birthdays, Halloween, the conclusion of finals week…). While she often got herself into odd situations, she rarely, if ever, posed any danger to herself while under a drunken haze and for that Elsa was grateful. Mostly Anna would get more publicly affectionate than usual, which was a rather impressive feat on its own, not to mention troubling to Elsa's state of embarrassment. Though she chastised herself for how possessive it sounded, Elsa was relieved that it was her Anna paid extra attention to while her mind was, well, quite _gone_, rather than someone else. It was certainly a better alternative than promiscuity with strangers. Elsa hated to admit it because it was such an inversion of who she was as a person, but she had a bit of a jealousy streak when it came to Anna and at times it was difficult for her to control.

This time Anna's cause for celebration had been New Year's Eve and guessing by the amount of aluminum cans crinkling under her feet and glass bottles rolling away from the tips of her boots, Elsa would be quite surprised if Anna remembered the previous year at all. An aquarium sat on the countertop housing the remains of a greenish-blue substance and pieces of fruit buoyed just above the surface of it, most likely weighed down with whatever alcoholic concoction it floated in. Streamers and kazoos peppered the floor between the empty cans and bottles, a broken lamp lay at the foot of an end table, its shade decapitated and nowhere to be found. At least it appeared there weren't any stragglers this time.

Elsa trudged through the party's debris, suitcase trailing behind her, and checked the open bathroom. It was there that she located the lampshade atop Anna's face - she lay propped up against the wall in the bathtub, head tipped back toward the ceiling. Her snores echoed through the funnel of the lampshade and as Elsa pushed the door open enough to enter the room (careful to leave her suitcase out of sight), a shoe toppled from the door handle and startled Anna awake.

She shot up with a yelp and the lampshade fell into her lap, revealing the state of her braids which resembled shredded hay more than her typical beautiful hair.

"Ooohh," she groaned, a wince pulling her eyes shut as she massaged one of her temples. "It feels like there's an alarm clock going off in my head. Or like a boulder sat on me. Or like my brain is a ball of yarn, but it got unraveled and then like…" she trailed off, squinting her eyes to discover the intruder. They bulged in her head a moment later and her face lit up. "Elsa!"

Elsa chuckled at Anna's quick change of demeanor upon seeing her, crossing her arms.

"I'm glad to see my presence is able to solve your hangover in such a short amount of time."

Anna lifted an eyebrow and leaned an elbow on the edge of the bathtub, "Actually, a lot more than my head is pounding when I see you."

Elsa felt a flush fan over her cheeks.

"I wouldn't be trying anything at the moment, whatever's sitting on your head looks like it should be breakfast for a farm animal," Elsa replied, smiling at the scowl she received.

Anna touched her frazzled excuse for braids then looked down at the lampshade in her lap, wiggling the toes of her bare feet.

"Yeahhhhh…." she dragged out the word, blush burning brighter as she spoke. "I'm sorry you even have to look at me right now, but at least a lampshade is in my lap instead of puke this time?" she smiled in both an apologetic and cheeky manner.

Elsa laughed, a single laugh with a dainty rise and fall of her shoulders.

"Yes, that's true. Where's Kristoff?"

Typically she found Anna's goofy roommate slumbering face down on the couch after such a night.

"Nnm, I think he went home with some girl last night. Or maybe that was someone else. I honestly can't remember, he might be sleeping in his room."

Elsa's eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

"I told him to keep an eye on you while I was gone," she said accusingly, though not maliciously.

"I can keep an eye on myself, thank you very much!" Anna huffed indignantly from the tub. Elsa gave her a look of casual disbelief, Anna's current state speaking for her. "The worst that happened was I just missed you. At midnight everybody was kissing someone and I could only_ think_ about kissing you," she pouted.

"If you take a shower and brush your teeth, your dream can become a reality," a gentle lilt of a smile pulled at Elsa's lips.

"What are you talking about? I'm more attractive than I've ever been. I have a wild mane flowing around my head and my mouth tastes like something died and then got embalmed -"

Elsa burst into laughter, even if she hid it behind her hand.

"Gross, Anna!"

"And I'm alllll yours," she leaned against both of her elbows, fluttering her eyelashes dreamily. A moment later one of her elbows slipped and her forehead landed with a _'thunk'_ against the lip of the tub. "Owww…" she hissed in pain, forehead and pride both bruised.

"Anna! Are you -"

"M'fine, leave me to die of embarrassment in peace," she muttered, words muffled.

Elsa shook her head with a smile, forever smitten with Anna's adorable lack of coordination, and began to back out of the cluttered room into the equally cluttered hallway.

"Take a shower, wash up. I'll still be here," she said and Anna blew a raspberry her way before she closed the door.

She leaned her back up against it and gazed at her suitcase with a creeping sense of despair and longing. Unsure of how to broach the subject of her parents' reaction to the nature of her relationship with Anna, she held her head in her hands for a moment. They lived a few hours away from where she attended college and she still had quite a few belongings that had resided in her childhood bedroom, the most important of those items that which now resided in that suitcase. She re-lived the moments in her mind and they felt like a nightmare.

Elsa had been requested to be at her parents' home for a formal New Year's Eve party and never being one to disobey them, she had responded and attended accordingly. Dazzlingly so. She had purchased a new dress for the occasion and had her hair professionally styled, make-up painted on her face by an artist. She figured if she were to disappoint them with what she had to say, she would at least hope to initially impress them and earn their aesthetic praise.

Her old home was expansive and luxurious, complete with a courtyard and fountains, and enough rooms for it to be considered a posh hotel. Since she had grown up there, of course it brought her a sense of familiarity and warmth to be home, but she had been plagued with anxiety ever since her parents had asked for her. She knew she was to tell them about Anna, it could not be put off any longer. Her relationship was becoming too serious for her to continue to hide it. They hadn't discussed it, but she felt that she owed Anna this.

Being wealthy themselves, her parents had an abundance of wealthy friends. Such friends had attended this party and such friends had handsome young sons that Elsa's parents were eager for her to mingle with. She had continuously brushed off their offers to dance and held short, disinterested conversations with them. Her stomach was in knots and she had wondered what Anna was doing.

Late into the night, knowing she couldn't push it off any longer or her parents would retire for the night and she would lose her nerve, she pulled them into her father's study. She had tried to wring the anxiety from her hands as she paced and stuttered, her mother touching a comforting hand to her shoulder that she only jumped away from.

Finally, the words cascaded from her mouth, clear and precise.

"I am in love. Her name is Anna and I don't wish to hide her from you any longer. I have no interest in any wealthy shareholder's sons, or anyone's sons at all."

That had earned her a slap to the face. The shape of her father's hand burned on her cheek and she knew it to be the last exchange she would share with him.

His words, powerful and horribly loud, blew her out of the room and she packed what she had left behind the first time she left home. She knew she would never be back for another chance to retrieve it.

While she had been recollecting the events of the previous night, she hadn't heard the spray of the shower turning on behind her, but a series of thumps and thuds pulled her back into the present moment and her eyes widened as she yanked open the bathroom door.

Anna peaked at her around the shower curtain from the floor of the tub and smiled apologetically, shampoo suds bubbling in her hair.

"Oops," she breathed in a small voice.

- -x- -

They lay sprawled atop Anna's plush comforter, Elsa running her slim fingers through Anna's newly washed hair. Anna's nose was pressed into Elsa's neck and she fought off the sleepy fog that brimmed her mind. Elsa's free hand slid up her back, beneath the white cotton, spaghetti-strap tank top that Anna wore, before her fingers dragged down along the ridges of her spine. The comforting strokes were making Anna's battle against sleep a difficult one to win.

Hoping conversation would be enough to keep her awake, she mumbled into Elsa's neck, "How were your parents?"

Elsa froze beneath her, eyes snapping open.

"…They were…good. It was nice to be home for a short while."

"Mm," Anna mumbled, unconvinced by Elsa's answer as she rose to her elbows so she could see her counterpart eye to eye. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Elsa averted her eyes. "My bond with my parents has never been exactly strong, more of a necessity. I receive a warmer welcome from the staff of their home."

Anna searched Elsa's eyes, lifting a soft hand to her cheek and swiping the sharp edge of her cheekbone with her thumb.

"My parents would love you," she whispered and Elsa's eyes finally came back to her. Tears followed not long after.

Anna sat up and pulled Elsa against her, reversing their positions. Her hands ran soothingly through platinum hair and she kissed the crown of Elsa's head, blinking back her own tears as Elsa sobbed into her chest.

Anna didn't press for any further explanation. A thin blanket was rumpled at the foot of her bed and she pulled it over the pair of them as Elsa curled further into her body. The suitcase - stuffed in the front closet of Anna's apartment - remained untouched and out of sight, and sleep soon took them both.


End file.
